Entrepreneur Dapp opens Exact Tax & Accounting

Tom Dapp is no stranger to small business, having owned nine companies in the course of his career.

His latest venture, Exact Tax & Accounting, opened Jan. 15 in Suite C of the KTXR building, 3000 E. Chestnut Expressway, and Dapp has hired his first employee.

Dapp, who has an accounting degree from Missouri State University, said extensive market research led him to start his newest company in the tax and accounting arena.

He said he was looking for a business that is needed in the marketplace, has a niche that could be created or developed, and has good prospects for long-term growth.

The niche he's identified for Exact Tax & Accounting is small business.

He plans to fill that niche by providing services in four core areas: tax preparation; payroll services; bookkeeping and accounting; and QuickBooks training. Customized QuickBooks training already is available for individual companies, Dapp said, while a class schedule for larger groups will begin May 1, with all courses led by a certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor.

Computer Renaissance, Cookies by Design and New Horizons Computer Learning Centers in Springfield and northwest Arkansas are among the businesses previously owned by Dapp, who with his wife, JoAnn, continues as a franchisee for Dagwood's Sandwich Shoppes. Dapp's résumé also includes working as a business broker and forming the business plan for Drury University's Edward Jones Center for Entrepreneurship.

Because several of Dapp's business ventures have been franchises, he said he's comfortable with the idea of growing Exact Tax & Accounting into multiple locations, and some day, a national franchise.

Through the company's Earn and Learn mentoring program, Dapp aims to train future entrepreneurs, preparing them to open Exact Tax & Accounting locations or launch businesses in other fields.

"That's what it's all about," Dapp said. "Entrepreneurs help other entrepreneurs ... through the myriad things they need to go through."